The friends and loved ones of Kim Wall will take a large step towards justice for the journalist when the trial of her alleged killer Peter Madsen begins.

Madsen is accused of killing the 30-year-old, a native Swede and one-time New Yorker who was writing a story on him, last August aboard his private submarine in the waters off of Copenhagen, where his trial is set to start Thursday.

Prosecutors allege that he premeditated the attack by bringing tools used to torture and dismember Wall, and Danish law classifies murders under the broader charge of manslaughter.

Friends in shock at the grisly details of the crime have in the months since last summer tried to keep the focus on the life and work of Wall, who wrote for outlets including The Guardian and The Atlantic.

Her mother Ingrid Wall has dutifully shared articles by Wall that have come out after her death, such as a look at the effects of U.S. nuclear testing on residents of the Marshall Islands.

A memorial event was held at her alma mater Columbia Journalism School, and a fund in her name from the International Women’s Media Foundation will grant a young woman reporter support to cover what Wall described as the “undercurrents of rebellion.”

But the trial of Madsen will put the eyes of the world on the actual crime committed, and whether Madsen, a 47-year-old previously known for his homemade rocket, will be found guilty.

Peter Madsen (right) is accused of planning the killing of Wall aboard his "Nautilus" submarine.

(BAX LINDHARDT/AFP/Getty Images)

Huge interest in the trial does not mean there will definitely be a conviction, however, and Sven-Erik Alhem, a former prosecutor in the Swedish cities of Malmo and Stockholm, told the Daily News that “there will be no easy trial for the prosecutor in the Madsen-case.”

Alhem, who is now president of Victim Support Sweden, mentioned that in the similar Swedish justice system a man accused of killing and then dismembering his wife was acquitted of the more serious charge in part because, like in the Madsen case, there was no exact cause of death.

The man in the city of Solna said that his wife hit her head on a table last April, according to newspaper Aftonbladet, and echoed Madsen’s recent admission that he cut up Wall’s body, later found in the water along with tools.

He originally said that he dropped Wall off near where they met, before later saying that he buried the reporter at sea after she died when a hatch on the "Nautilus" submarine hit her head. He again changed his story late last year when he said she died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“The circumstances are not in favour of Mr. Madsen so to speak. He has altered his version of denial too many times. But still it’s up to the prosecutor to prove all the circumstances,” said Alhem, who added that he believes the prosecution will succeed.

Dozens of journalists from around the world are expected to flood Copenhagen’s court on Thursday, where local media says that many will be put in an overflow area outside the trial room.

Madsen has changed his story multiple times, but said that Wall's death was an accident.

(Hougaard Niels/AP)

Though no cause of death has been established, an indictment says that Madsen abused Wall before strangling her.

The exact motive for the killing has also been unclear, though a friend of Wall's, May Jeong, reported in WIRED that a recent sexual partner of Madsen’s had text messages from the suspect several days before the death about wanting to kill and cut someone up on the submarine.

Police also found videos of women being tortured and executed on his computer.

Madsen, who also faces charges of indecent handling of a corpse and sexual assault without intercourse, could face life in prison if convicted of manslaughter, though the typical sentence is generally around 15 years.

The trial is scheduled for 12 non-consecutive days, and a verdict is expected at the end of April.